# BeiDou-3 IGSO 3D model

> Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.

Free 3D model of BeiDou-3 IGSO, a satellite, built from published dimensions by Space Radar. 13,806 triangles, 110 kB glTF, MIT.

- **Class:** Satellites
- **Mission:** Navigation
- **Triangles:** 13,806
- **File:** beidou-3-igso.glb, 110 kB, glTF 2.0 binary (meshopt)
- **Look:** Flat colours
- **Size:** 3.6 m across
- **Made:** Built from dimensions
- **Added:** 2026-11-04
- **NORAD:** 44204, 44337, 44709
- **Download:** https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sara-Managed-Projects/space-radar/main/site/models/beidou-3-igso.glb
- **Mirror:** https://git.sara-agent.org/sara-projects/space-radar/raw/branch/main/site/models/beidou-3-igso.glb
- **Viewer:** https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=beidou-3-igso
- **On the live map:** https://www.spaceradar.ai/#at=sat-44204
- **Licence:** MIT (https://github.com/Sara-Managed-Projects/space-radar/blob/main/LICENSE)
- **Credit:** BeiDou-3 IGSO 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT License

Canonical: https://models.spaceradar.ai/beidou-3-igso/

## How it was made

Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from the body dimensions CSNO published for BeiDou-3's IGSO craft (as quoted by Xia et al., CC BY 4.0) and from CSNO's rendering and museum mockups of the craft (looked at, not used).

built by this project in code (the private tool model-from-images: assemble.py, from a yaml of primitives, object `satellite-beidou-3-igso`), from the cited numbers and the pictures under `references`; no image-to-3D model was used, and no published mesh of the craft (CAST and CSNO publish none; NASA's 3D Resources carry none, read 2026-11-04)

## Dimensions

- Body: 2.358 × 2.098 × 3.602 m
- Wing area: 17.7 m²
- Wing panels: 3
- Panel: 2.5 × 2.358 m
- Hexagon side: 2.358 m
- Dish diameter: 1 m

Source: (1) Xia et al., 'Advancing the Solar Radiation Pressure Model for BeiDou-3 IGSO Satellites', Remote Sensing 14(6), 1460 (2022), https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14061460 (CC BY 4.0), OPENED 2026-11-04 as the PDF at depositonce.tu-berlin.de: 'From the BeiDou-3 metadata released by CSNO [17], the box-shaped body of BeiDou-3 IGSOs has, essentially, a rectangular cross-section of 2.098 x 2.358 m, and a length of 3.602 m.'; 'BeiDou-3 IGSOs carry a regular hexagon and two circular communication payloads on the ±X surfaces, as shown in Figure 1.'; 'the installation information (angle, location and distance relative to the spacecraft body) and dimensions for these payloads are not disclosed. ... The radius of the two circular payloads is 0.5 m, and the side length of the regular hexagon payload is the same as that of the Y side of the spacecraft's body' (THE AUTHORS' ASSUMPTIONS, used here for the same reason and found to agree with the mockups' proportions); its Table 1: '+X 8.496, +Z 20.871 (4.956), -Z 20.871 (4.956), SPs 17.700' m2 (2.358 x 3.602 = 8.494 and 2.098 x 2.358 = 4.947 reproduce the body areas; 4.956 + a hexagon of side 2.358 (14.44) + two discs of radius 0.5 (1.57) = 20.97, near 20.871). (2) 'Precise orbit determination for BDS satellites', Satellite Navigation 2, 2021, Table 2, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s43020-021-00062-y/tables/2, OPENED 2026-11-04: 'BDS-3 GEO DFH-3B ~ 2970 kg, X 2.10, Y 2.36, Z 3.60 m, area of solar panels 35.4 m2' and the same for IGSO (~ 2910 kg): so a GEO craft is the same size and the 35.4 is TWO wings of 17.7. (3) keeptrack.space, a catalogue site (read through a search extract, NOT OPENED): span 18 m, which 2 x 7.5 m of panels and the hubs and yokes make 18.6 m (consistent, not a source). NOT CITED, READ OFF THE PICTURES AND ESTIMATED: the wing's split into three 2.5 x 2.358 m panels (the AREA is cited; 7.5 m x 2.358 m is exactly 17.7 m2, the width of 2.358 m is ours), where the Earth is (the side the array, reflector and dishes look to in the rendering; no page says it in words), the boom, its length and the hexagon's centre 2.35 m off the face, its depth (0.45 m) and the lattice, the dishes' places, tilt and depth, the array's 1.3 m and its 19 cups, the white panel's standoff, the star tracker, the boxes, the S-band dish and the far deck's ring (not seen in any picture), every colour. THE HEXAGON AND DISHES ARE DRAWN AS SEEN IN THE PICTURES, SO THEIR SIZES ARE THE AUTHORS' ASSUMPTIONS, NOT CSNO'S.

## References

- [Xia et al., 'Advancing the Solar Radiation Pressure Model for BeiDou-3 IGSO Satellites', Remote Sensing 14(6), 1460 (2022), Figure 1 (credit: China Satellite Navigation Office, csno-tarc.cn)](https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14061460), Xia et al.; China Satellite Navigation Office (CC BY 4.0 (the paper's licence; read 2026-11-04 in the copy at depositonce.tu-berlin.de); looked at, nothing taken from it)
- [Beidou satellite mockup at FING UNLP 01, 02 and 03.jpg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beidou_satellite_mockup_at_FING_UNLP_01.jpg), BugWarp (CC BY-SA 4.0 (01 and 02) and CC BY 4.0 (03) (Commons LicenseShortName, read 2026-11-04): looked at only)
- [Beidou-3 Satellite Mockup.jpg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beidou-3_Satellite_Mockup.jpg), AKAMGO yalms (CC BY-SA 4.0 (Commons LicenseShortName, read 2026-11-04): looked at only)